Lab 4 Firearms Analysis Lab Notes and ReportAssignment
Overdue – Last Sun at 11:59 PM
Ends Jul 13, 2019 12:00 AM
Laboratory Notes
It is essential that you take good, complete notes while conducting your examination and experiment. Your notes should include an original hypothesis for each experiment, a description of the evidence examined (as listed on the analysis request), a description of the procedures you performed (including all actions performed), any sketches you prepared, and a discussion of the results of your examination. Please note that your hypothesis should relate to the reader specifically what you think the results of your experiment will be and must be formulated prior to completing your experiment. Your hypothesis needs to be specific to your experiment, cannot be a general statement and is not a restatement of the procedures used to examine the evidence.
Notes must be submitted in their original form and must never be recopied. (Recopying means writing out your notes again, this time without mistakes. Recopying notes is considered tampering with evidence.)
As you are performing the labs virtually, you will have two choices in how you take your notes. If you have access to a scanner, you may take handwritten notes and then scan those notes to attach them in the Assignments Folder. You should not erase or obliterate any notes. All changes must be made using a single-line strikeout, with your initials on the mistake. Also, if you insert anything, you must initial the insertions as well.
If you do not have access to a scanner, you may type your notes in Microsoft Word or a similar word processing program. However, you must not use the Backspace or the Delete keys while taking your notes. You should instead draw a single line through the error for any mistakes, followed by your initials.
Note: In the real world, your notes are discoverable by opposing attorneys and may be entered into evidence in court procedures. If you make a mistake when handwriting notes, you correct the mistake by drawing a single line through the error, writing your initials next to it, and rewriting the item correctly. Your notes should contain no obliterations or erasures.
Screen shots from the lab are NOT acceptable. If you wish to provide an image of the data or results, you may either hand draw or use Microsoft Word shapes to re-create the data or results. If you hand draw, you may take a photo of the drawing and insert into your Microsoft Word document. If you submit as a separate image, remember that this is still consider a part of your notes and requires the same formatting as your notes (name, lab #, date, page #). Page numbering is sequential.
Report Format
You will be required to use the report format that will be provided to you in Course Content for all of your reports. For each Lab, you will receive a “Analysis Request” in Course Content that will contain required information. You will need information from the “Analysis Request” as well as information from performing the Laboratory Exercise to complete your Lab Report.
The Lab Report will contain the following information:
- Case Information
- As provided in each “Analysis Request” or determined by the student
- Evidence Description
- A full and complete description of every item of evidence as provided in each “Analysis Request”
- Examination Procedure
- A short statement (1-2 sentences) of the procedures used to examine the evidence
- Examination Results
- A scientific statement(s) of all the observations and results obtained from each laboratory experiment
- Conclusions
- This section contains your original hypothesis from your Notes, whether your examinations supported or rejected your hypothesis and why, as well as a minimum of four possible sources of error for the lab. The sources of error need to be fully discussed, applicable to the experiments performed, and should not include human error.
The report should be scientifically written and not utilize pronouns (I, my, you, we, they). The examination procedure, examination results, and conclusion sections should be written in complete sentences. The possible sources of error should not focus on human error, a source of error is something that could go wrong with the experiment, instrumentation, equipment, et cetera.
Please save your Lab Notes & Report in the following format: LastNameFirstInitial-Course#Lab#Notes and LastNameFirstInitial-Course#Lab#Report (e.g. DoeJ-301Lab4Notes and DoeJ-301Lab4Report).
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